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Notes from the Editorial Board |
 | Introduction |
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An Update is a brief and credible review of a topic that is important to physical therapists. This review is meant to be reader friendly and is not meant to be an exhaustive, or "exhausting," review. The typical Update submission is generally 12 double-spaced typed pages. It's intended to provide meaningful information to physical therapists who are unfamiliar with the topic. Although Updates aren't exhaustive, they have to be credible, summarizing the most important and recent data on the topic.
Because of the intended wide audience, "experts" in the given area may be bored with an Update. In fact, our content experts sometimes can be overly critical when reviewing an Update because they rightly believe that it does not push the given field forward. But Updates are not intended to push research forward. Updates are intended to bring the latest evidence, in a reader-friendly manner, to busy readers and clinicians who can use the information.
With this goal in mind, an Update includes only data or information that have been previously published. You won't see descriptions about a new patient; our Case Reports fulfill that need. Likewise, you won't find data from a new experiment; our Research Reports do this job. You won't find new perspectives or opinions in an Update, either; established authors can contact the Editor in Chief and submit their opinions as a clinical or professional Perspective. Again, the purpose of an Update is simply to report important peer-reviewed evidence that already has been published elsewhere.
The results of our 1999 readership survey (a sample of 2,500 members with a 67% return rate) suggested that you, the Journal readers, would also like to see more Updates. The Update category had the highest rank in "interest" of all manuscript categories: 86% of readers were either interested or very interested. We publish about 4 or 5 Updates per year, but we'd like to receive, and publish, more.
What is an appropriate topic for an Update? Anything that is important to physical therapy is "fair game" for an Update topic. A review of previously published Updates shows the wide range of potential topics. We have published Updates reviewing basic science and physiological issues related to muscle,4 appropriate components of a clinical examination for the sacroiliac joint region,5 and criteria for making appropriate diagnoses.1,6,7 An almost infinite number of topics remain to be addressed. What topic do you think is important to share with your physical therapy colleagues? Here are just a few possibilities:
Who can write Updates? We welcome clear and credible Updates from new or experienced authors. Some of our best Updates have been submitted by graduate students and new faculty members. Without exception, these graduate students and new faculty members have had mentoring from an experienced author. Writing an Update is not as complex as writing a Research Report, but publishing any article in a peer-reviewed journal goes well beyond English 101, and most authors benefit from a mentor who can help them focus on a topic and select the most critical evidence. We recommend that all prospective authors review previously published Updates to understand the expectations for a successful Update better.
Experienced authors also should consider submitting an Update. Are you a physical therapist who typically conducts your research in other fields and publishes your work in other journals? If so, the Update provides a good opportunity for you to share your relevant findings with the 65,000-plus universe of Physical Therapy subscribers. Or perhaps you have an exceptional graduate student who needs more practice in scientific writing. An Update is an excellent mechanism to engage students in scholarly activity through submission to and publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Updates are designed to be useful and meaningful to you, the readers and authors of Physical Therapy. If you are a busy clinician, we want the Update to provide you with credible information that will help you manage your patients as an evidence-based practitioner. If you are an author, new or experienced, we want Updates to provide you with a mechanism for sharing your work or your interest through a brief review.
Our profession can thrive and grow only when its members have access to the latest credible information. The Update category is just one way for the Journal to provide that access—and one more way for you to participate in your profession's growth.
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